The Enterprise-D Scale
The Enterprise-D scale is a system for rating the relative capacity of one starship versus the next. Since no good objective measuring standard exists for measuring the capacities of Starships, it was decided to take an Iconic starship and use that ship itself as the measuring stick. We took the Enterprise-D as a good yard stick. But when? We assume the Enterprise-D is being improved and updated as she goes. So we picked the first moment the ship appears on screen 2364. On an open ended scale where 1000 is The Enterprise-D as seen in 2364 (TNG, Season 1): (Many write ups use 100 points as the E-D basis. It's essentially the same with the decimal point moved one to the left.) *Science capacity - *Crew Comfort - *Duration - *Medical facilities - *Tactical maneuvering - *Strategic Speed - *Defense - *Offense - *Versatility - *Internal Security – Note this scale is for comparison. Most Starships, being smaller than the Enterprise-D Will rate higher than the E-D on the Tactical Maneuvering part of the scale. Since most starships are not appointed like cruise ships, they will rate lower than the E-D on the Crew comfort scale. Reading the Scale Science Capacity This measure describes how well the starship is equipped to explore and perceive new things, explore new phenomenon, or generate useful scientific information. *1000 indicates a ship with large departments for science that a crew of 600+ offers. Crew Comfort How well appointed the ship is, how well equipped it is to support the crew for a long period of time. A poorly equipped starship will look like a world war II Submarine. *1000 indicates that the majority of the ship is turned over to crew accommodation.Most if not all crew have a private cabin. Duration How long the ship can remain in space without needing to pull into a starbase for a major service. Also an implication of how long the ship can go between fuel stops. In this case larger is usually better, unless the ship is dedicated to long distance travel. *1000 indicates the classic five year mission. Medical Facilities How advanced and well equipped the ships Sickbay is. A better medical rating means the ships can handle more wounded people, or stranger and more dangerous diseases. *1000 is assuming the sickbay can handle up to sixty persons without strain and has at least three full time doctors. I consider a ratio of 10% of the crew disabled and no strain to be reasonable. However the number is based on the 60 persons not a crew percentage. Tactical Maneuvering How fast the ship is, using impulse sub-light drives - also how quickly the ship can change direction, turn or conduct evasive maneuvers. The bigger the ship, the worse this is going to be. *1000 is reasonable maneuverability. How one sees the E-D move. Strategic Speed How fast the ship can cover space in warp. this is important because it determines how quickly a ship can respond to distress calls or calls for reinforcement from friendly units. *1000 equals 3 light years a day or WF 8 on the new scale. Defense A general rating of how well the ship can weather and fend off damage from incoming attacks. *1000 is the E-D defensive capacity. Yes the dramatic sensor make pinning that down very difficult. Size does matter. Larger ships can absorb more hits. The E-D has class 10 shields. Offense A general rating out how well the ship can dish it out. *1000 equal class 10 weapons and lots of them. Versatility How well does the ship adapt to other roles? A WWII battleship, for instance, has a poor versatility rating. Its focus on winning navel combat makes it a lousy cruise ship. I doesn't do well as a cargo ship. There are better ships for oceanographic studies. Good Luck landing an airplane on it. *1000 is a high rate of versatility. Frigates, even large ones that can outclass the E-D in other categories will not outclass here here. Internal Security How well can the crew monitor the inside of the ship? How hard is it to gain access to critical systems? How well defended are critical places on the ship? A low rating means a user-friendly ship, maybe even to the wrong folks. *1000 Again with the dramatic sensor. I assume that except on the days when the writers are lazy the E-D is very hard to seize from the rightful crew. Examples Enterprise Class Heavy Cruiser The refit ship from TOS and the movies. The heavy cruiser of the late 23rd century *Science capacity: 200 -- Less lab or crew for science, sensors less advanced. *Crew Comfort 250 -- Half the crew, an eighth the volume. *Duration - 1000 -- smaller in every way but equipped for that size. *Medical facilities 600 -- Neither the space or the staff. *Tactical maneuvering 1500 -- Lighter and quicker. *Strategic Speed 600 -- Cruise WF 8, Flank WF 10, old scale, cruise 0.7 light years a day. *Defense 500 -- Good for her day. *Offense 500 -- Class 7 phasers again good for the day. *Versatility -- 600 She did the cruiser mission be did not have the space or crew. *Internal Security -- 800 Decent. Manta Class Heavy Frigate A frigate designed to place a heavy cruiser punch into a much more compact size. She is a third the size of the E-D and packs a heavier wallop. There are trade offs. This is the Manta as build discounting latter upgrades, like quantum torpedoes. *Science capacity 200 -- Mantas simply do not have the crew or the lab space. *Crew Comfort 1000 -- Yes the ship is small, but so is the crew. '' *Duration 400 -- ''The manta has a 14 month on station duration. She is not a long distance cruiser. *Medical facilities 600 -- Fully modern and adequate for her size, not an S&R cutter. *Tactical maneuvering 1600 -- Centerline mounted nacelles mean this ship can flip around fast, she has the same impulse drive as the galaxy class with a much lower mass. *Strategic Speed 1000 -- Cruise WF 8 Flank WE 9.95, cruise 3 light years a day. *Defense 1000 -- She can hold her own and take what she dishes out. *Offense 1500 -- Class 10 weapons. Lighter on the phasers but a significantly heavier photon torpedo battery. *Versatility 200 -- This is the can whup-ass comes in, there isn't room for much else. *Internal Security 1500 -- RI computer monitoring. Dolphin Class Heavy Cruiser Dolphin Class (Blue Dolphin) GXC Heavy Cruiser. The latest and greatest. The Dolphin is the first class of disodium heavy cruisers. The Dolphins are 36 decks deep with a hull as wide as it is long. The Dolphins are built with the latest advances in technology and comfort. They can carry 1000 beings in comfort to the most dangerous places in the Galaxy and bring them back. This class is considered a general replacement for the Planet class cruisers. A good idea that was simply too expensive. Also unlike the Manta the Dolphin has the bridge on deck one. A design concession to Admiral Hailey. However the bridge module is built flush with the hull. The Dolphin is build with two major power systems. It can be built with either the Disodium HE system (Blue Dolphin), which is preferred by the horned fleet, or in a standard disodium system (Fleet Dolphin) favored by Starfleet. Performance curves are similar for both systems. *Science capacity 1500 -- larger and more capable labs, sensors in the Class 20 range. *Crew Comfort 1500 -- The vessel is larger but carries no larger a crew. *Duration 2000 -- Bigger matter stores, more fuel. More capable of self repair and maintenance. *Medical facilities 1200 -- Same sized crew more space in the medical department and the capacity to expand that as needed. '' *Tactical maneuvering 1000 -- no better or any worse than the E-D *Strategic Speed 6,000 --'' cruise. Wf Ds7 Max wf Ds9 cruse speed is 18 light years a day. *Defense 2000 -- Class 12 shields as well. More radiators to stay in the fight longer. *Offense 2000 -- Class 12 phaser banks, more torpedoes and ion cannons. *Versatility 1000 -- Performs the same mission much the same way. *Internal Security 2000 --''An RI computer system closely monitors the ship.'' Category:Treknical Category:ST-OM Category:Epiphany Trek Category:Ships